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Chapter 39
At that moment, Maybel stepped forward in the underground dungeon upon seeing the person who had appeared.
“Ma-Maybel?”
A flustered Kellic grabbed her, but Maybel instead stepped toward the newcomer.
“Lander…!”
Before them stood Caesar’s aide, Lander.
Surprisingly, Maybel’s face showed a glimmer of relief at seeing him.
“Oh? Is that someone you know?”
“Yeah, that’s Lander! Who he is—”
Maybel turned to explain Lander to Kellic.
Screech!
“Danger!”
“Ah!”
Kellic quickly shielded Maybel and rolled to the side.
In the dim dungeon light, the dagger Lander held glinted menacingly.
“Maybel, are you alright?”
Kellic anxiously checked on the girl in his arms.
Thanks to Kellic’s quick reaction, she wasn’t hurt, but Maybel still couldn’t compose herself.
“W-why…?”
Kellic jumped to his feet, blocking her way and confronting Lander.
Maybel remained seated on the floor, staring at Kellic and at Lander, who was pointing his sword at her.
“W-why…?”
Her voice trembled uncontrollably, unable to believe Lander had attacked her.
“L-Lander is supposed to be a good person…!”
“A good person? When have I ever done anything to deserve such words from you, miss?”
Lander asked as if he had never heard such a thing.
“I don’t think I’ve ever really helped you, miss.”
He added coldly, as if to say even a false impression has its limits.
“Th-That’s…”
When Maybel had been ignored as the ghost princess, Lander had also pretended not to see her.
But Maybel knew the truth.
Whenever something slightly edible appeared atop the garbage heap, or a tin bowl collected rainwater, or a thick but dirty cloth was thrown near the attic in winter, it was Lander who quietly helped.
She realized this one day in the kitchen when she saw Lander, then just a lowly servant, being scolded harshly.
He had snuck into the kitchen despite not being allowed and was caught by the head cook.
In his hands was a bin of food scraps.
- “I was going to throw this away for you…”
- “Who told you to do that, you rat? Don’t ever come back into the kitchen!”
Though driven out by the cook, Lander had managed to safeguard the bin of scraps.
He went straight to the garbage heap, emptied the scraps, and glanced around cautiously.
- “What’s he doing…?”
Watching quietly, Maybel saw him pull something from his pocket: a broken biscuit.
Her eyes went wide.
It was the same biscuit she had discovered first and gratefully eaten when scavenging the garbage in the past few days.
After that, Lander’s quiet assistance continued from time to time.
- “He really is a good person…”
Maybel wanted to thank him, but she couldn’t.
Despite helping her secretly, Lander had always pretended not to notice her.
Her hope that he might acknowledge her had been dashed, but she didn’t mind.
She decided to keep Lander’s kind heart deep within her own.
Yet now, that same Lander was glaring at her with deadly intent.
“I don’t know what you’re thinking, but in any case, it ends here.”
To think her first conversation with him would be like this!
Maybel’s wounded heart couldn’t recover.
Meanwhile, Lander attacked again.
“Ugh, kuh!”
Kellic could only dodge the fierce strike.
Maybel’s hairpin was useless against such a sharp sword.
“If only I had a proper sword…!”
Kellic scanned the area, but there was nothing suitable nearby.
“Tch, this rat!”
Lander’s frustration grew as Kellic skillfully dodged while keeping Maybel safe.
Apparently, Kellic had been trained properly at the Grand Duke’s Castle, and his speed and awareness were formidable.
The fight, expected to end quickly, dragged on, making Lander impatient.
‘I need to finish this before Caesar notices I left…’
He glared at Maybel, crouched behind Kellic, as if ready to kill her.
‘He knows I helped her before.’
As Maybel remembered, Lander had helped her in the past.
Though it had been a small act of pity, it was still help.
Recalling his own unfortunate childhood, Lander couldn’t ignore Maybel completely.
But if anyone discovered he was concerned for her, like the others who had quietly helped her, he would disappear without a trace.
So Lander had done all he could quietly to help her.
‘Back then, I thought it was the right thing to do…’
But now, the situation was different.
Once a lowly servant, Lander no longer accepted that position.
Ambitious, he worked to earn Caesar’s favor and rose to the rank of aide.
If Caesar discovered that Lander had helped Maybel in the past…?
‘It could jeopardize my promotion.’
He might even be eliminated like those who had disappeared quietly before.
He couldn’t risk his life and career over a scrap of sympathy for someone else.
Thus, the moment he realized Maybel had vanished from her room, he went to the dungeon.
By then, Kellic had figured out that Lander’s real target was Maybel, not him.
“How did you know Maybel was here?”
Kellic bared his teeth, wary.
It was strange.
‘She should be asleep after taking the sleeping medicine…’
Lander chuckled at Kellic’s question, then aimed his sword at Maybel.
“Do you know, miss? The room assigned to you can be seen directly from the master’s study window. You’re under constant surveillance. It’s easy to notice when you’re gone.”
“Then why come here? How did you know I would come here…?”
“Because this is the only secret passage I haven’t reported to the master.”
Maybel swallowed hard at Lander’s words.
He had known about the secret passage running through the mansion walls for some time.
He had carefully listened to her screams the first time she fell while discovering it.
Later, he even arranged the straw piles beneath it so she could use it again.
‘I left a few secret passages for the lady’s use, unreported to the master.’
Thanks to this, he could now easily deduce her location.
Maybel became even more confused.
“So… you’ve been helping me all along? Then why…?”
She hesitated, standing and pointing at Lander’s sword.
Tsk, Lander clicked his tongue, slightly twisting his wrist on the sword.
“You don’t need to understand. Just think of it this way: repaying the help I’ve given you, yes?”
“Repaying…?”
“Yes. You are alive thanks to me, so now you must die for me.”
Lander truly intended to kill Maybel here and now.
Of course, he had an excuse ready for Caesar.
Caesar hadn’t listened to the doctor who examined Maybel.
So Lander could cleverly claim that giving her so much sleeping medicine was a mistake.
Not only that, he could even claim that her death was the fault of the Grand Duke’s House of Esclide.
After kidnapping the heir of the ducal family, murdering her would bring severe consequences upon them.
Perhaps Caesar would even prefer this version.
‘I can blame those wounds on that fox. He won’t live to explain otherwise.’
“Impossible…!”
Kellic shouted in outrage.
Lander, regaining his stance, forcefully kicked a stone on the ground.
“Ha!”
As Kellic twisted to avoid the flying stone, Lander lunged at Maybel like lightning.
“Maybel!”
Ah!
Kellic had left an opening. He spun around in shock, but it was already too late.
“Ugh…!”
Maybel covered her head and squeezed her eyes shut.
Clang!
And Lander’s sword was deflected.
